I want to grow and evolve. Kind of like Colourpop.

I’m going to make some really corny makeup analogies here, so bear with me folks.

When Colourpop Cosmetics launched in 2014, they had three types of products. They had their famous super-shock eyeshadows, their lipsticks (known as lippie stix), and their lip liners that matched each lippie stix (known as a lippie pencil). They only had these three products for awhile; they kept expanding the range, but they stuck with this inventory until they mastered it. Soon, they branched out to liquid lipsticks. Satin liquid lipsticks. Every variation of a liquid lipstick under the sun. Blotted lipsticks. Blushes. Highlighters. Pressed eyeshadows, both individual and palette. Now, they’re really killing the game by coming out with face products like concealer. I wouldn’t be surprised if they came out with foundation, primer, and anything else they are missing to create the ultimate full face within the next year or so.

While Colourpop branched out, they managed to do one thing: they stayed true to their message. They wanted to create quality cosmetics at an affordable price. At an average price of $5 to $6 a product, almost anyone can find it within their budget to try out something they’ve been eyeing. A full, 12-shadow palette is $16. That’s a steal, especially when you find out it’s a dupe for a popular $130 Sephora best seller.

I think there’s a message here in Colourpop’s evolution into their brand. The message that I see is to master what you have before you try something new, but always be sure to keep branching out. Colourpop did not venture into new products until they knew for sure they could handle it. They mastered what they had first. They built up their reputation and their brand.

I want to do the same thing for myself.

I’m my own brand at the end of the day, right? Journalists, while under the umbrella of whatever company they write for, ultimately are their own brand. Their name is their notoriety. You might not like the outlet they write for, but you might trust their work. A journalist has to build their brand. They have to show they’re trustworthy, show they’re reliable, and show that they are honest. You cannot trust a dishonest journalist, but you can trust an honest journalist who is exposing dishonesty. Nobody really owes me anything. I haven’t really established myself yet. I hope to though. I hope I’ve established myself in your eyes as respectable and honest. I hope you think I’m able to be trusted. I would also hope that you have seasoned journalists that you can turn to when you need news, scoops, or real-time updates. I hope someone has gained your trust.

But I want to keep evolving. I want my image and my brand to keep expanding, to become a jack of all trades. I want to become a journalist who you can go to for anything. Sure, television has never been my thing because I prefer to stay under the radar more, but I want to be able to step in if need be. I want to be able to handle anything and everything, to create whatever I need to in order to keep my career afloat – and to help others. Because although they like to frame journalism as a competition, I truly believe that everyone can be supportive of one another without hurting someone else’s efforts.

So, yeah. I want to evolve like Colourpop. I want to evolve like makeup brands do. I want to always stay with the trends (even if they’re absolutely bananas), be able to adapt to whatever life throws at me, and most of all – I want to make people comfortable with journalism, especially those who believe that a free press is nothing but fake news.